Typical techniques used to terminate optical fibers, which are known in the prior art, employ a two step process of termination. The first step being fiber termination where fibers are stripped of the outer jacket and cut adjacent the end thereof to provide a fiber end face which typically must be polished or otherwise prepared to enhance optical transmission therethrough. The second step requires the mechanical assembly of the prepared fiber end in a housing of a termination device for registration with an optical device such as a light emitting diode or another optical fiber. There exists known techniques which combine both the fiber preparation step and mechanical assembly step in one operation. In commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,715, issued Dec. 27, 1983, entitled "Fiber Optic Connector Having Fiber Cutting Means" and U.S. Pat. No. 4,582,392 issued Apr. 15, 1986 entitled, "Fiber Optic Connector Having Operable Fiber Retention Means" methods and apparatus are disclosed which provide a bridge between the separate fiber preparation and mechanical termination steps of previous devices, in one device.
In the above-referenced patent there is disclosed a fiber optic connector assembly in which a cutting device and a termination device are supported in fixed mutual relation in a common housing thereby bridging the two step approach. A companion housing provides for retentive engagement of the fiber. The housings are joinable in a first pre-cutting relation wherein the fiber spans the housings. The housings are mutually movable into a second relation effecting fiber cutting and are further mutually movable into a third relation providing registry of the termination device and the end face of the fiber resulting from the cutting. In the above-referenced co-pending patent application, a second device which provides such a bridge between fiber preparation and mechanical termination is disclosed. This device comprises a composite fiber cutting and terminating appartatus which includes a parent housing and an insert housing each adapted for mutual relative movement. The parent housing supports both an optical device and a cutting device. The insert housing supports the fiber. Upon movement of the insert housing into the parent housing, the fiber is retentively engaged by a support member of the insert housing. The fiber is moved into engagement with the cutting device, whereupon the fiber is cut to define an end face for termination with the optical device in the parent housing.
As can be seen, the above two referenced devices each provide for cutting of the optical fiber to form a termination end face and immediate positioning of that end face with an optical device. There is no provision in either device for further preparation of the end face of the fiber once it is cut by the cutting device. Thus, end face polishing or chemical preparation is not typically possible nor desirable with these devices. While the end faces provided by the cutting blades of each of these devices is more than adequate for optical transmission through the fiber for short lengths, the and face provided by such devices, may not be suitable for optical transmission through extended fiber lengths.